The Los Angeles Dodgers came as close as a team can get to winning a World Series, as they were defeated by the Houston Astros in an all-time classic seven-game series.
While the loss was a tough one to swallow, the Dodgers return most of their core nucleus in 2018, which leaves them in good position to make their way back to the World Series. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has yet to make any big moves this offseason, but was involved in discussions with both Shohei Ohtani and Giancarlo Stanton.
Although they lost out on both to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and New York Yankees, respectively. Los Angeles also saw one of their best relievers depart, as righty Brandon Morrow reportedly agreed to a two-year deal with the Chicago Cubs.
With the 2017 Winter Meetings just underway and months remaining in the offseason, there are still plenty of options on the free-agent and trade markets that the Dodgers could pursue.
On Monday, Friedman put an emphasis on possibly making additions to their bullpen, but he also said with how the roster currently is constructed, they Dodgers not going to force matters, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
Friedman said he's happy with the talent base. "We're not going to force anything" at Winter Meetings.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) December 11, 2017
In addition to Morrow, the Dodgers may be losing some other key free agents in Yu Darvish, Tony Watson, Chase Utley and Andre Ethier. But with the depth they had in 2017, and a lot of those players returning, there are internal options to round out the roster.
Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi previously indicated the club would pursue high-impact talent this offseason.
While the bullpen is always an area that can be upgraded, the last two offseasons Friedman signed Morrow and Joe Blanton to low-risk deals that both ended up panning out well. It’s reasonable to expect more of the same from the front office this time around.
